Facilitating understanding of information visualizations: emerging principles and examples

Summary form only given. The enthusiasm for information visualization has generated a wide variety of interesting tools for multi-dimensional, hierarchical, and other kinds of visualizations. However, some designs are readily accepted as understandable and useful, while others are perceived as confusing and useless. Controlled studies have begun to sort of some of the issues, but the insights of designers and usability tests are contributing interesting cognitive hypotheses for researchers and practical guidelines for developers. This paper offers examples of what works and what doesn't with a preliminary set of principles that might have wide applicability.